Beinestar and Williams Institute has released a major report on the interaction of the law enforcement in Los Angeles County with Transgender Latina women. The results once again illustrate how the Transgender community is feeling the full impact of discrimination and violence directed toward the LGBT community. You can see the entire report by clicking here but here are excerpts from their executive summary.

The reports shockingly reports:

-Two-thirds of Latina trans women surveyed reported verbal harassment by law enforcement. -21% reported physical assault by law enforcement. -24% reported sexual assault by law enforcement. -Almost 60% of those stopped by law enforcement in the previous year while doing everyday things like “coming back from the grocery store” and “waiting for the bus” said they believed they were stopped without having done anything unlawful.

Of those Latina trans women who lodged a report against the police, two-thirds said they felt the report had been “poorly” or “very poorly” handled.

Other key findings were:

-71% of Latina trans women negatively described police interaction with the trans community, with typical responses including that police were aggressive and disrespectful. -While 55% reported having been victims of crime, only 56% of those actually felt it was worth reporting the crime to the police. -Of those reporting crimes, 57% said they had been treated poorly (35%) or very poorly (22%) by the police.

The report stresses how this negative view of the police leaves Latina trans women, and the trans community as a whole, vulnerable to violent crimes, discrimination and unlawful practices, without hope of remedy.